Recent deals in Australia, including PGIM Real Estate’s provision of AU$70 million in senior debt for a commercial redevelopment in Brisbane, have brought the issue of availability of commercial real estate debt into sharp focus.

Growland Group, a local developer backed by Asian investors, has entered into exclusive negotiations with a Melbourne family to buy an enormous Werribee farm, not yet zoned for residential redevelopment, for a speculated price of more than $30 million.

Resources

Boom iron and coal exports bring first trade surplus in six years

The Australian, 4 Aug 2017

Booming sales of iron ore and coal to China helped deliver the first trade surplus since 2011 over the past year as exports surged by 17 per cent while the nation’s appetite for imports barely changed.

Hong Kong’s cashed-up Langham Group is on track to expand its hotel empire through a combination of outright purchases and management agreements as it looks at Australian resorts and cities in a bid to compete with big-gun hotel operators such as Marriott and Accor.

A property fund run by sector stalwart the GPT Group has made one of the most expensive shopping mall investments in Australia’s history, snapping up a 25 per cent stake in Melbourne’s Highpoint Shopping Centre, in a $680 million purchase from the city’s wealthy Besen family.

Education

Universities set to lose $1.2b in funding under Turnbull government changes

SMH, 6 Aug 2017

Universities would be hit with $1.2 billion in funding cuts under the Turnbull government's higher education changes, with new data showing some institutions are set to lose up to $57 million over the next four years.

China Domestic

A diet of video games and old movies have influenced the most popular online trends, as seen by a list of the hottest Chinese Internet slang from the first half of this year expected to bewilder anyone not up-to-date on some very obscure references.